Indiana State Sentinel, Indianapolis, Marion County, 5 September 1894 — Page 1

$ nnoT DRDT I nnoi ran i . ESTABLISHED 1822. INDIANAPOLIS, WEDNESDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 5, 1S9 1 TWELVE PAGES. ONE DOLLAR A YEAR,

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AFTER THE DELUGE OF

DEAMALffl

The Excitement Gives Way to Dull Lethargic Grief.

Cliarred Remains of the Victims Find Nameless Graves,

their mum

Scores of Decomposed Bodies Lie on the Blackened Ground

Twisted In the Agony of the Death That Overtook Them.

Nothing But Fire-Scarred Stumps and the Trunks of Great Forest Trees Mark the Sites Where the Burned Towns Stood Sad Scenes In the Dreary Little Cemetery, Where a Husband Digs the Grave of His Wife and Little Ones Frightful Experience of a Train Crew Near Pokegama The Generous People of the Great Northwest Carrying on the Relief Work in a Thorough and Systematic Manner.

ST. PAUL,, Minn., Sept. 2. Six towns ivipeJ out anJ more than live hundred dead is the record made by the forest fires in this state in the last twentyfour hours. In Hinckley, Sandstone, Pokegama, Sandstone Junction, Skunk Lake and Mission Creek there are 353 known dead. In addition several hundred are mis-slng, while from 150 to 200 jei.lt were scattered on farms throughout the district burned over. The destruction was complete in most of the towns named, but some of the forest land scajed. The loss, however, will W in the million, and the lo?s of life will not be definitely known for several days, if vor. The relief trains brought supplies pent out from this city, Minneapolis, Duluth and other Minnesota towns, and the sufferers are being handsomely eared for at Tine City and other points. STOIIV OF Til 13 FI KG.

Leaii Into If iiicLlry StTeepluit Every tblnK Hefure It. ST. FAUL, Minn.,' Sept. 2-The town of Hinckley, Minn., about half way between this city and Duluth. has been wiped out by forest fires, and the list of dead may reach 1.0"0. It will certainly exceed 2u0. and the reports now beins received wouii indicate that the larger figure may not be too great. On th train to-day from there were one or two people wiio cam through the fires und have graphic stories of the scene. The train from Duluth reached a point a mile and a half north of Hinckley Borne tlms after midnight, and was forced to return t- a point five miles away on account of threatening flames. Half a dozen of the passengers, however, secured a handcar and rode through the 3air.es to Hinckley, taking the northbound train this ile of there and returning on it to this city. On their ride an the handcar they counted twentyeven dead bodies along the line of railroad; seventeen were discovered at Hinckley during the morning and twen-'.y-one others have been found up to I o'clock. They say that the people jf Hinckley run to the woods when their houses caught fire, and as the timber tft-rrwards burned, it is more than problb'.e that greater numbers perished. The nost conservative estimate of the dead ts 200. The whole country around Ilinek-te-y is on lire, and the full extent of the ll.aster cannot be learned for a day or two. A Whole Fanitlr I'ertith Tosrlhrr. The party that came through the fires iround Hinckley on the 'handcar suffered evere'.y from burns. Their injuries. However, will not prove fatal. They tell many sad stories of what they saw. One woman had evidently tried to save her five children and was overtaken by the fire, and the whole family perished close to the railroad track. Another case was where a mother, see!ng her house in flames, ran in to save her child, and the husband also followed her and the walls of tha houätf feli in before they coul 1 get out. The passenger train from Duluth, on which these men were, is In ashes, and the rest of the passengers have taken refuge in a marsh near Skunlc Lake, where they are surrounded by fire. The engineer was badly burned bv the ilames, but stuck to hi post and got all of the passenger- out of the fire safely. This engineer, Jarr.ps Itoot. is one of the best known and plurkl?.t of those in the employ of the St. Paul & Duluth. He tried to take his train through the fires to Hinckley, but when the cars caught from the flying embers, he reversed hi engine and backed at full speed to Skunk Lake. It was so dark during the day yesterday that it was almost impossible f r any one to see one hundred feet -ay, and during the night the headl'.x'x brt the engine was useless. En-,:r:-or Hoot's injuries are quite serious, t';t it is hoped that he will recover al-:.--.iga one report gives no hope. Mission Creek In Ahe. The little town of .Mission Creek, some little distance north of Hinckley, is also reported in ashes. Special trains were sect out both from Duluth and SL Paul to-day with full

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FUMES

m medical forces, and all that is possible to be done will be done. , A private dispatch received this evening from the- burned district states positively that 2.V) dead bodies have already I been recovered, so that the estimate made above may be considered aa decidedly conservative. The loss in the neighborhood of St. Cloud, which is on the western e.lgj of the tires, U estimated at J200.0UO, ar.d from that point east and "north nearly everything Is burning. The tires are raging in Lecker and Aitken counties, where many farmhouses and much grain has been lost, as well as the timber. Herolxm of (lie Trnln Crew. From the stories of passengers on the limited train, which was burned near Hinckley, the entire train crew deserve to be placed on the roll of honor for personal heroism. Engineer James Root of "White Hear heads the list and will have a thrilling story to tell if he recovers from his Injuries, lie was badly burned and almost blinded and fell from his seat unconscious immediately on getting through the fires. Pireman John McGowan was a good companion for him in the cab, and the other members of the crew Conductor Jerry Sullivan. Urakeman Monahan. Haggagman John Morris and Porter Hlair were lit associates for the hero who led them into what was literally a fiery furnace. Whtn about two miles north of Hinckley, Kngineer Itoot first discovered that the iirts which had been raging on both sides of the track Tiere racing him for his life ami the lives of his pa.seng'rs. Cinders were flying In every direction and the smoke was so dense It was well nigh impossible to see beyond the cab windows even with the aid of the powerful headlight. At first he thought to outrun the flames, which were coining after and bearing down upon him at a sixty-mile gait. When about a mUe and a half from Hinckley he discovered that the lire was too fast for him, having overtaken the train and leaped it, ?r that the train was literally surrounded with llames. The air was stifling and the hat so intense that the clothing of the cabmen waa ignited McGowan leaped into the water tank, extinguishing the fire in his own clothes, and then seizing a bucket dashed water over the burning engineer. Root steadily kept at his post, although scarcely anle to sit upright. Leaped Into the Roar In Pnrnnrr. In the meantime the passengers could see nothing, but heard the roarljng of the oncoming tornado of fire, and soon the glare outside wa3 too much for the reason, of a. number of them. The rear car caught fire and a3 the flames overtook it and the passengers rushed headlong into the forward cars. Conductor Sullivan, with his plucky associates, walked up and down the aisle, doing their best to soothe the frightened passengers. The shrieks of the women and children, as well as the terrified shouts of the men. Increased the terrible feelings aroused by the uproar of the flames on every hand. The windows broke from 'the heat and several of the men passengers, too terrified for further self-control, with a terrible cry leaped headlong through one of the open windows and were swallowed up in the flames outside. Others seeing this act quickly followed, and altogether In the next ten minutes a dozen men leaped to death in the flames in a like manner. The women, whose terror had been pltliul a few minutes before, now came heroically o the help of the trainmen In endeavoring to soothe the frightened children. Engineer Itoot saw that there was no outlet for his train and concluded to turn back through the district already burned over, rather than encounter possibly greater perils. He backed at a fast speed to Skunk Lake, seven miles north xt Hinckley, and the passengers deserted the burning train at that place, seeking refuge in a swamp, where they spent the night. This morning a relief train from the north brought them through Hinckley and on to this city. The relief train carried a supply of handcars, which were used In picking up the bodies of the dead along the track. One hundred bodies were picked up and brought into Hinckley before the relief train came on to this city with the injured passengers and trainmen. Hinckley was a mass of ruins, nothing being left standing except the walls of the round-house. So fast did the flames come that the people had no chance to save themselves. They fiel on horseback and .on foot, but were quickly overtaken, and very few seem to have escaped. One party of about forty or fifty people sou!it

safety In a shallow pool of water in a gravel pit. The flames iwooped down upon them from every si Je and they, in their endeavors to escape from the flames, wtre drowned in the xol, many of them throwing themselves ItKo the water, evidently preferring death by drowning to being roasted alive. Storjr of the CatnatropTie. The Btory of the catastro-ph which "wiped out the material possessions that had made Hinckley a busy, a prosperous little city is a short one. The town was built of wood. The school house, erected last year at a cost of $10.000, and oneh.ilf the Duluth round -ViiiFe, were the only brick structures In the city. Ily one of those peculiar freaks for which there bj nc accounting the Hastern Minnesota round-house and water tank, on the Houihwestern edge of the town, almost in the woods, escaped the Ilames a clrcum-V-Ance tho more remarkable from the fact that it Flood dirtctly in the path of the tUrnes, which sc-m to have Jumied it as cleanly as if plajlng leap-frog. All yesterday forenoon the townspeople were apprehensive. The smoke rolling up from the south told a story unmistakably plain t. tho5e accustomed to a wooded country. The fire kept advancing. fai.n.,1 by the wind which was blowing a gale. About 11 o'clock the lire company got out their engine and laid an eighteen-hundred-foot line of hose to the southern outskirts of the town. The hose was all too snort for the measure of protection desired and a telegram was sent to Rush City for more. Five hundred feet was sent, but It never reached Hinckley. The main part of the village lies In the north fork made by the crossing of the Duluth &. Hastcrn tracks, the latter to the east, and the former on the west. On the west side of the luluth tracks were a few small houses belonging to the railway employes. The firemen's attention was mainly directed to keeping the fire away fim them, as the main business part of the city was built in solidly Just across the track. The Fire .lumped Into the Town. About 3 o'clock in the afternxn the fire literally jumped into the town. Its approach wa3 not gradual. It did not eat its way alonr, devouring everything in its path, but came in huge leaps, as if to overtake everything fleeing before it, and then burned back at Its leisure. It it; described by those who owltnessed its onward progress at Hinckley and elsewhere as if it wer forced along by cyclones of its own generation. The intense heat would develop a veritable whirlwind of llame that actually twisted off poplar trees several inches In thickness and carrl-d huge blazing firebrands hlh in the air, and carrying them forward for from forty to eighty rods, there to fall ani begin the; work of devastation anew. The tire first struck HinckKy on the rast side of the Duluth track and the brave lire-fighters for the first . time gave up the unequal battle and already too late, in many Instances, turned their attention to their personal safety. The Hastern Minnesota train from the south had just eonie in and the jn-opie of the panic-stricken city Hocked to it for safety. A number of box cars were coupled on and tilled and covered with men, v;im:n and children. S me were bareheaded, some were cuatkss, some few clutcned a pitiful bundle of the more preci 'U-i cf their portable" possessions. Families were separated. Children joined the throng and left parents. In all there was a motley crowd of nlxut 4 .Ii) or more people. The train pulled out just ahead of the fire, and succeeded- inultimately reaching Duluth. This clrcunistariee, while fortunate In a degree tiiat cannot be estimated, has made the confusion greater, for it is not known who escaped in this way, and many people are reported dead who may bo in safety. Had not this number of people, largely women and children, left the doomed city when they did, the loss of life would have Increased in a geometrical ratio, for their prescence would have added inimcasureably to the subsequent confusion. Their Situation Desperate. About the same hour the accommodation train on the Hinckley & St. Cloud branch left for the latter place with about twenty-five passengers. Its path lay directly across the path of the lire and their situation sbeedily became desperate. The ties were burning, the rails were warping and the trestles were sagging under the train. The smoke had increased so that the engineer was helpless. He could not see th train behind him. Burning tiets lay across the track and were being tossed aside by the t ngine. Suddenly the track gave way and the train topjdeU off to one side. No one was Injured, and they preisc-d to l'okegima. station, a few rods ahead. Hut a iew feet in front of the engine was discovered a. gorge sixty feet wide and forty feet deep where the trestle had been burned away. They succeeded in reaching the clearing about the station and escaped with a few burns and bruises. There were burned along the track, however, four or five people. Including Dr. Kelcer of New Brighton, who, had come up to look after his brother. The people who were left In the city were in what seemed to be an almost hopeless condition. Kgress by the only means of transportation that could hope to distance the swiftly advancing Ilames was out of the question. .The men had been ligthing the fire for hours and the women and children were in a paniestricken condition. Many of them were of the more ignorant of the population, for a very large percentage of the people who got out on the Great Northern road were of the more Intelligent class. Hows were harnessed to buggies and wagons. -Women and children were hurriedly loaded. In some cases attempts were made to carry off some household goods, but in most Instances the people had no thought for ought but their lives. Kleelnsr llrfnre the Pnraaliiip Demon. Probably two hundred of them left town on foot or in vehicles, plunging into the wAsods to the north across tne Grindstone river, which skirts the town on the north. They were literally fleeing before the pursuing demon of fire. Over the hill that rises beyond the Grindstone is a swamp, and to this most of the people with teams headed, but it proved no protection. The fire gave them noopportunity to go further. Some abandoned their teams end ran into the lower potions of the morass, but the fire sought them out. Not one was left to tell the tale, and there this morning, in a space of little more than four or five arrres, were counted over one hundred and thirty corpses. There were many families of five, six and seven, and there they lay, the men generally a little In advance, the mother surrounded ty her little onea cut off by the most horrible of deaths. Nearly ail the bodies were nude, the fire having burned every vestige of their clothing and blackened and charred many of the corpses beyond recognition, and where whole families were wiped out as they were, and some of the bodies completely incenerated, identification is absolutely out of the question. Those who fled to the north on foot followed the Duluth track, and so rapid was the progress of tno flames that many of them were actually burned as they fled, falling on the right-of-way for a distance of three miles or more. Nearly thirty bodies were recovered along here. Some of the foremost of the escaping citizens met the Duluth train coming in from the north. It waa due at Hinckley at 4:05. Engineer Jim Hoot was at- the throttle. I

He stopped the train and took on loard K'5 of the refugees, who crowded Into the train, completely filling it. for it had a passenger list almost a3 large. l$y this tlrn-i the woods were blazing n each ulde of the track, and en he reVersed his engine and started back the cars scorched and crackled in the heat. Root ran the train back about tliree inlbfl. to Skunk Lake, and the people escaped from the burning cars to the water, and no Uvea -were lost, either of passengers or refugees. Took Refuge In a Vit. The people who remained in Hinckley fared th best of all. The Kastern Minnesota tracks mark the eastern 'dge of the city projx-r. Just beyond, the road owns a. tract of land probably embracing at least ten acres. It was purchased for a gravel pit to furnish material for the flll-up approach to the company's bridge across the Grindstone and at other points on its line. To tne,aet that it had been used for this purpose almost to its exhaustion about a hundred Ilinckleyltes owe their lives. The whole area indicated had been excavated to a depth in the center of thirty to forty feet. There was a stagnant pool of rain water In the eenter three feet In greatt depth. The pit wa wide and deep and to it fled those of the citizens who were willing (to trust to its friendly depths. There were probably 100 of them, and In addition to the human beings quite a number of domestic animals, li arses, cows. oxen. pig, chickens, etc.. sought sarety here. It was really the tafe-st place about Hinckley. Three or four hundred trunks which were rolled half way down the sloping bank iussed through the fire unscathed. The jeoplo went in here as the Eastern train pulled out. a few minutes after 4 o'clock, and here they remained until after night, while the smoke and Ilames from the burning city rolled over their heads. They dashed over each other and covered their heads with wet cloths to prevent suffocation. One unknown man succumbed to the smoke or to the terrible 6tra!n and fell in the water and was drowned. R far as known today this was the only tragedy of the gravel pit. Other of the citizens sought refuge in the Grindstone river, under the abutments of the two railway bridges and the foot bridge. The exact number cannot be known as they were scattered along a considerable difitance. That many escaped and some were drowned is 'well known. Jlrs. Martin Martinson and her four little children were taken, drowned, from the water this morning. In the meantime Hinckley was burning with frightful rapidity and in a few hours nothing was If ft but blackened ruins. The loss will certainly exceed a million dollars, but with little Insurance. The l'tre f'loned In on Them. The .situation at Sandstone Is even more appalling than al Hinckley, ercept ir. point of numU-rs. Of the 1 people in the town one-fourth are dead. Otto Stafferfeldt reached here from that place tonight. He says the people were just preparing to l.-ave when the fire closed in on three sides p.nd not a tingle person saved a thing except his clothing. About 1G0 went to the river and fifty or sixty were burned to death. At 4 o'clock this morning he saw over forty bodies, cliarred and burned, lying on every side. The people who were saved are living on potatoes and carrots left in the ground. As night closed In the people besran to come out from their hiding places and make their way over the hot embers of their city. They were Absolutely dazed bi the catastrophe od the niht was spent In an endeavor to find relatives or ascertain their whereabouts. Communication with the outer world w is cut off for hours as completely a if they were on a desert island. The fire had spent its force, but the air was filled with smoke, through which gleamed the dull blaze of smouldering fire in the more substantial stocks of goods. Two huge heaps of coal, which marked the location of the Duluth coal t-heds, verj blazli g, and by the fitful light people wandered about picking out the places where but six hours before their happy homes had stood. The fact that 5o many had escaped by train added to the anxiety of those whose friends and relative were not to be found, while it furnished at th same time a basis for hope that they were in safety. Iteeoverlnpf the Und Irs. "When the morning broke, a few energetLc. spirits began to organize the work of the recovery of the bodies. J. W. Sargent, a passenger conductor on the Duluth road, got into Hinckley during the night and he organized a volunteer crew, who manned two handcars, whose capacity was increased by the use of plank. They went up the Duluth track to the north and picked up thlrty-on bodies between the river and 1'kunk lake. The bodies were wrapped up in blankets and such chilli as could be obtained and laid out by the side of the track where the depot stood. Here alfo were brought the two little sons of Tom Henderson, Sandy and Johnny; the drowned corpses of Mrs. Martinson and her four children, Mrs. Hianchard and her two children, who were burned to death just above the Duluth roundhouse, and a man named Lambeson, who was found near the Martinson party. Citizen volunteers harnessed up he available vehicles saved in the gravel pit and went out to the swamp across the Grindstone. They brougnt in ninety-six bodies, which were carried out to the desolate burylng-ground a mile east of town. There waa neither time nor opportunity to observe the sacred formalities usually surrounding death. The excitement of the occasion, the horrible experience through which the living had passed, and the more horrible form in which death had come to the lost, had temporarily blunted the finer sensibilities and the dead were heaped high on the wagons and laid in piles at the cemetery, among the smoking embers and stumps that surrounded God's acre. It was a gruesome sight. Will He Ilurled In IIuKe rita. Dr. D. "W. Cown, the coroner, who wa3 here, there and everywhere, in general supervision, directed the digging of two huge pits, twenty-four by twelve feet, in which the interment will be made tomorrow. One of the saddest features of the calamity is the Impossibility of identification in such a large proportion of the cases. The ninety-six bodies brought into this point were examined by many of the surviving residents of Hinckley and but four could b& identified, Charles 'Anderson, Axel Hanson, Dennis Riley and Mrs. William Glnder. The balance will have to be buried together. In the indeflnlteness of the arrangements, and it seemed impossible otherwise under the circumstances, due regard was not paid to a proper, separate preservation of articles found on the bodies and the last chance of identification was lost. Tbose who brought in the bodies from the swamp reported that there were at least thirty-five1 bodies out there which cannot be brought in. until morning. Out on the government road to the ea.st was found the Best family of six persons, father, mother and four children. Best was a prosperous farmer living Juet out of town. Here also were recovered the bodies- of the three unfortunate creatures who lived at the stockade. There were six of these women in all. They escaped to the river, but three returned to carry out a trunk and were overtaken by the flames. Near Skunk Lake was found a family consisting of father, ' mother and seyen children. Another family in which there were five children, only th father $sscae4.' Thwo

was a settlement of about thirty looplo near this lake and but two are known to b alive.

1 1 1: a n t it i : m ) i g s ci : e s. Street Thronged will I'rople Senrchliitf for Their Loved One. PINH CITY, Minn., Sept. 2. Minnesota has never known a calamity attended with such loss of life as that brought on by the fire which wiped out Hinckley, Mission Orevk, Sandstone, Sandstone Junctiem. I'okegama and the other fcettlementu in, that vicinity. A conservative estimate places the loss of lifo at not less than 2.10. while many others have sustained serious injuries and unknown others are among the missing. To this horror of death in its most horrible form must be added the utter desolation ar.i destitution that has come upon thousands of others whose all has been swept away in the face of impending winter. There Is peculiar horror about the fatality in the admitted impossibility of identification in a very large proportion of the deaths. The generous instincts of a generous peopla have been aroused and adequate, measures of relief are now under way. S?t. IJaul responded nobly to tha call for assistance published In yesterday morning's Pioneer Press, and when, at C:20 "'clock this afternoon, the tra.ln from St. Paul bearing the members of the relief committee and their generous donations arrived at Pine City the people were more than grateful for the quick reFponsp. St. Paul' cent tent?, food and money on the first train, without waiting for the intervention of committees to see what was needed. The people of Pine City were very active and all day long trains run from this place to near Hinckley, bringing the living to Pine City, where the people did everything in their power to relieve distress. The horrible visitation of death was not without features of notable heroism, which lighten up the gloomiest page of Minnesota's history that has ever been written. No one seemed to have a first thought for himself, and many of tha lives saved Were those of ieople who were utterly unable to take care of them.'-lve?. Vine City has turned the skating rink and court house, as well as many private houses, into hospitals, where fifty sufferers are receiving medical attendance and careful nursinpr. The town hall is uird as an eating house, where ail the homeless men. women and children are substantially fed. The school house, church and hotel, besides some stores, are used to shelter them by night. "Whichever way the eye turns heartrending scenes ar3 witnessed. The hospitals and streets are thronged with people seeking their missing loved ones, i'a 1 lid le Scene tit the Ilepot. As soon as each train comes in from tho north there is a frenzied rush of pallid Inquirers, tome of whom are doomed to disappointment forever. Fathers seek wives and children; sisters their brothers; youths their mothers, and occasionally are mad1 to rejoice by finding teni. Pew families are complete and the torture of anxiety and despair is driving some people out of their senses. A man going insane; a patient groaning life away; a woman giving premature birth; a heap of cinders n presenting a human form these are a few of the incidents of the great forest fire of 1SS4. No trains are running west of Hinckley, and it is impossible to get accurate information. Carlton. Itutledge ar.d other towns In the north are reported burned to the ground. The Hastern Minnesota is gutted out and the Omaha has fared litle better. The Eastern Minnesota train from Hinckley far St. Paul at 4 o'clock, the limited on Sunday took about five hundred people to Duluth. all of whom are reported all right. This train got over the bridges a few minutes before they were burned. At Pine Town, three miles east of Tine City, suthof the Snake river and west of the St. Croix, a fearful fire is blazing and sweeping everything before It. In the afternoon this fire was at leaf-t twelve mitea square, but as the wind has gone dawn considerably, it is hoped lis course will be checked. There are fires north of Snake river, also in a heavy timber section, which Is sparsely settled. As for loss -of property, it Is impossible to make even an approximation, but it certainly runs up into th millions, two or three million cf dollars' worth of property b?tvce:i Hinckley and Du!uth having been reduced to ashes and cinders. The clean-out has been so complete that many prop'.o hive no a-nbiila if ft to rebuild new homes en top of their ruins. 'Most of them will scatter to ail pjrts of the country to find their friends as soon as they can. XnUr I.Ike n. Cyclone. A part" of Hinckley people, consisting of M. L. Elsmore. of the Hrennan Lumber compagy; Professor Collins, cf the Hinckley schools, and others was fishing at Grindstone lake. They were out in a skiff, but were warned of the approach of the fire by the noise, which was like that of a cyclone. They ran jnto the shore at the southwest end of 'the lake and warned a lot of settlers Who were back m the woods, getting together a party of about eighteen down by the lake. The fire struck the lake at their nd, ran along the shore about half a mile, and then jumped the lake in a diagonal direction at a paint where it was not less than a mile across. Mr. Elsmore says the fire went across that district in two bursts of flames with lightning rapidity. This Illustrates as well as anything the way in which the fire progressed. At the other end of the lake waa a lumber camp where the men had a batteau. Iietween twenty and thlrtysettlers were rescued in this boat. On the bodies found along the Duluth track were four watches, all of which stopped at 4:30, indicating the time when death overtook their possessors. The searching party went up the Duluth track, scared off a large black bear which was sniffing about the bodies, having apparently come through the fire uninjured. One of the identified bodies, that of a woman, wore a ring on which was engraved "W. B. G. to C. L. M." Ezra Kicketson of Minneapolis, who lives in Polk-st., waa visiting his son "William, at Hinckley. He was about seventy years old and wThen the fire came his son put him in a wagon and told the driver to take him to the sand pit. For some reason he failed to do so and the old man perished. The son. with" his aged mother, his wife and two children found a safe refuge in the sand pit. The body of Jim Hean, the Hrennan lumber company foreman, was found in the swamp under a wagon. The wagon had struck a stump and the team broke away. There were only a few fragments of Hean's body unburned, but he was identified by eome keys. Hean was one of Ihe best known lumbermen of western "Wisconsin, where he was employed for many years before coming to Hinckley four years ago. Manager H. A. Tuttle of the North American telegraph company put in two Instruments in the Pine City office and the two operators were kept very busy with the press reports. The enterprise and forethought of Mr. Tuttle was appreciated. The Associated Press also had a representative on the ground. Mnnr Marvelon Eaenpe. Marvelous escapes were numerous. John II. Anderson started out by team with his wife and three children- Just across the river the horses were overcome by the emokc They left th wagon stag

gered forward en f. quickly becoming separated. The father, m ther and dauuh-t-r Hmlly, died In the swamp. Charley and his little twelve-year-' 1 1 brofher struggled for the Du.uth track. The latter fell In a ditch and was too exhausb-d to rise. He lay th re all n'.ght and thl.morning made his way to th track, finding the dead body of hs brother but a few feet from the place where he Jiad been saved. The other diughter was th eastern train t") Du'.uth. One family, consisting of a man, nis wife ani four li:tle? children and the wife's brother, vrawkd out on a boom in the river, where they remained all nljiht. They made their wy to Hin-k'.ey this Bftein on and came down to Pine City, where they are now, none tho Worse f.r their exjierlence. A few miles below Hinckley stunds the miracle of the fire, a claim shanty lelonpin to Prank ltaumcher, the Duluth section foreman. It was covered with ragged building paper, and presented a most inviting c j.portunlty for the Ilames, which raged close about it on all sides. There it stands uninjured. The paper is not even e torched. In the same vicinity stands a grove of twisted poplar trees, almost stripped of tluir branches, and evidence of the cyclonic peculiarity of the lire. Pokegama Lake, six miles west of Hinckley on th Ft. Cloud branch was wiped as clean us the other towns. It Is said about twenty lives were lost at that paint. Jim Root the Hero of Herne. Engineer Jim Itoot of the Duluth limited Is the äero of heroes of this terrible calamity. He stuck to his engine when the cab wa.s all on fire about him and ran his train with its precious freight of 300 souls back to the safe waters of Skunl: lake. Hinckley people ca Jim Root shall wear diamonds as long as they live. Fortunately he escaped with comparatively slight injuries. Poor Sullivan, the conductor of the train, ha.1 te:nTorarlIy lost his reason and was taken back to Duluth. He rendered noble s-rv-ici in disembarking the passengers, throwing one little girl through the car window. This was the last Impression left on his disordered brain, and as he lies in a lethargy he arouses at intervals to say: "I threw tho little girl through the window. Did I do right? Does any one blame me?" and then relates into unconsciousness. It Is expected tha.t he will recover in a fcv days. There H little probability of Hinckley ever being rebuilt to its former prosperous prc-ior-tlons. The Hrennan lumber company is not expected to rebuild its plant. Work had been crowded thi saotv in thu hope of charing tin all its ttrnS r and another seaon would have been the last. The company has but about 12,000,'J'JO feet of timber remaining, which is so located that it can be siw d to better n 1vantago at other points than by rebuilding hire at a probable cost of from $."'..- Out) to $75,i0. The timW in the vicinity Is well cut and burned olT and there is no chance of any other company coming in. Without an enterprise of this kind there is im future for Hinckley, except as a junction piint. The total loss of life will never be definitely known. There were scattered through the- woods settlei-s clearings and lumber camps with their watchmen, and many people were undmittedly burned whose bodies wtre completely destroyed and will neer be found.

Atxmt o'clock this afternoon1 the work train from ft. Paul reached Hinckley with Undertaker O'Halloran and hi thirty-two caskets. He went quickly to work upon the thirty-one corpses thr.t lay beside the track. A close description of the bodies was kept, anil every fragment cf clothing, the jewelry and anything else that could lead to identification." was carcfu'dy preserved. The work progressed rapidly and by evening the bodies were all wrapped up and laid away in the caskets and returned to Pine City. No attempt was made to bury the dead at th- cemetery. A last effort to identify them will be made m the morning. Assistant General Manager Miller, who arrived here at an early hour yesterday morning, and whose labors had been as efficient as ind-'fatlsra-ble, sent up a carload of lumber and a force of carpenters, who went to work knocking together rough boxe, which will be used so far as possible at the cemetery. Not it Life Lost nt llinn Creek. The little settlement at MissVm Creek, peopled largely by the employes of the old John Martin mill, now owned by Doyle & Laird, was wiped off tho face of the earth almost as Hinckley, its larger neighlior, a half-dozen miles up the road. Then; was th.re the mill, valued at perhaps Jl.'.OOO, about a Cl .n houses ana th;; company store. Th mill had been sld to Mr. Wisdom of Rush City, who was dismantling it preparatory to shipping it to Arkansas. Much f the machinery' had been tukrii out and was about to be loaded on a train of four flat cars which stood on thaj side track. There was perhaps half a million feet of sawed lumber in the yard. The total population cf the place was between forty and fifty. Over on the west side of the track, fortunately, well removed from the mill and yard, stood an old log house in th" center of a large potato patch. Th-1 women and children were all huddled Into this solid old structure and the nun remained outside of necessity lighting away the fire. Th? log house was a literal htiven of refuge. Kverything e'so went, but the fire could not run through the green potato vines, and the Folid walls resisted the waves of sparks and flame that rolled up against them. Not a life was lost at Mission Creek. The mill property was totally destroyed with the rest. Doyle & Daird's loss will be quite heavy, as the transfer of the property to Wisdom had not been fully completed. Three deer and two rabbits eaine out Cf the woods and took refuge among in all the

Dr. Price's

3

W CreainBakingPowder

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Carried off HIGHEST HONORS

World's

Exposition,

Chicago,

;he people at the lag h'jv. This morn lrg one of the deer was killed fr foodl and the other two were a. lowed lo go

; ATiii:iti(i ii Tin: i)i:m. Mt of Hie Victim f the Cn In fro ihc ut Hinckley. 8T. PAUL, Minn., Sept. 3. A Pine C.tyj special to the Pioneer Prs says: Word cinn.'t toll th story of death and deJtruetl m that is rovealei to the traveler orn the vt. Paul & Duluth from Mission ere-1 to two mile? ithove th l'.tt town of ler or f andtone Junction. The a.rfulnel of th desolation which strikes upon thai eye of the observer as h reaches th( eajnp, which was once the town uf lllnckley, U still mar tr.'rgly lmpr(sse4 oaj his vision as lie J urneys northward, Thb morning th? smoke had lifted, rcvea!lng4 a landscape bare and Mack, tho fctvj standing trees belnjr charred to a high a of forty f'et, vhlli the ground wajs oC that peculiar tint cf brown Fand- mlxeil with gunpowder, f--r the grasd had Leer burned even tt the roots. Here axul them In the bleak nnd dreary stretch.: of country, in wii.it ia nw a. grea-t lona land, was seen the body of a deer, whosa fleet foot had not bi-en able to outru.ni the flams. or of a human ll.n7. who h&A been absolutely powerless grim defrayer. ainst tlw Trip of the Itellef I:ir. A r-p rter accompanied Judge Nethamy. f Stillwater and the rrn ' of a rellel parry which started on ' with pruvislons to r"li i Sandstone, who wer- r distress. Two miles abo -found lylr.g oy he trunk nd-oar loaded '.ed In crat "Hinckley theyl in a tree ttm Kidy of a man which was evidently that of a lumberman. Th- relief pxrty prooevJed as far aj Skunk like, where th Duluth llmltM train was bt'rvd. Hera they found Kr.gir.ecr V.'ll'.hms In charge of a p-i-ng of :u .n rt bail '.lrg tha briuge. Fron; t a-m it was irr -.-d that tlv living at Sar.d.-tor.e ha ' 1 .-n taker ta Duluth bv social trdr.s m Sunday, night, an I their ireslrg titles relieve 1. f tli.it the help f:v.a Dine City .w'.-t not r.e-.'ued. The party, therefore. r.olv-d Jtgelf into on of s".tr h lor bvlu. f victims of the Ulraster. The h-'ue of J.;hn P.ob-I Inson wis near Fkunk lake In the e'.ge off tlie w.jo1s, an.l the f.cm.Iy j': irct refun-if ia the ctl'.ar. There was ro e!-ca;e fron, the lire, and the party f ;.t '.A the bodiej of John Jtobinsm r.rA h!.- wife, Mary ltobin. ,n. their eljer-t d.u;ehtr find tw v smiller children. Ail the de thing" wa burned from th bodies. I nt the victinwhal tvidently b . -vi tuff-n-ate I before hi flim reachel :'.-m. The han.!t cf th) oldest daugh;er w; re upraised, with palm.. P r,thrr, jm an ar'Itud cf prayer. "Within Of) yards of th .;.ot where En-j ginevr Itoot ntop;.ed his train was a. l'-r.g trench, runni:.g f-oni tv P.til body' of water, which pruo i a p! ice of j-afetyi for tl;e passengers t: th" limited, to a swamp mi the lake. I'oilovvimr alont!)i trench the party came u::i the jartialiy clothed l.dy of a ".ho, inj personal appearance, c'rr--p a t to thj description of den ral Pas..-.i,. r an V Freight Affonr. otto I to wit;. of th Duluth Sr Winnipeg railroad. An exam--5ration of the deal man's rhiil collar showed th" name. o. ltowley. :n.d it i supposed that was a passeng-: ,,n tha limited and In taking to the i;t--h expected to rach the laka. Other .1!!(1 found by the party were those of a jr.arv and a woman, who ha1 evidently lle.lf from a farm-hou.e near by, and tho bixlies of two men who are supposed to' have been passengers o:i the burned,! train. I.lat nt the Dead. Th latest verified reports .f th numhnr of dead no not materially alter the1, former estimates. In fact, thtt estimate is proving remarkably exa t. coiedderlni the confusion of the first d -. One element that maks rlne ligiring vry difficult is "the fact that bodies fen In th' woods and along the track are not in-t frequently reported to two ji.'nts nndJ . nt out from each us among its dead. Then, too, the tendency of th-- occasion, bad as it is, js to exaggi ra i ;. n. However eliminating these doubt ftii el.-m-ms :is fvtr as pos.-iHe from its approximation, there is no question that the total Is a nearly exact as poAsib The num. b-r of deal at Hinckley is j lacel at I'm). The correspondent has ;k '. i.illy oMintell IP 1 of these and the ln.iicin allowelj ab-iit all that is recc?-ry. The jigures are as foil-iws: Hinckley. Sandstone. Ol'; l.tler. III; between Skunk Lake cad Miller, 1"; Pokegama. 2. -In lumber h:p;.s and. s.-sttcrir.g, estimate r. Tot il, ?S-i. ' The following is the li-t of th- knrwrij dead at Hhicklcy. partiai y i lei-iified, 80( f.ir as known at a lat- hour tonight: I Mr. and Mrs. ABIJtJr two chil--dre::. Mrs. DAX DOXOIIUi: ai;l three children. JOHN WFSLUXn r.nd child. Mr. and Mrs. JOHN P.ODGERS an&r thre children. Mr. and Mrs. "MIKi: CL'HltY and boy.. SHE It MAX. PAUL. I.nSKF. Mrs. M-rL.i:VKIl and four children. THOMAS I H'XN. M:s. ULAXrilAKD ar.d two children. Mrs. MARTIN MA11T I.XSmX and foui children. AXKIj IIAXSOX and in t" , . Mi. CATIIIZHIXE ilKiS.'ilX.IER, 4 Continued on MxlU I'aKC. World." 5 Columbian

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